Panel of legal experts starts revising Egypt constitution

PanARMENIAN.Net - A panel of legal experts started work on Sunday, July 21, to revise Egypt's Islamist-tinged constitution, a vital first step on the road to fresh elections ordered by the army following its removal of Mohammed Morsi as president, Reuters reported.

Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood, which has accused the army of orchestrating a military coup and denounced plans to revise the constitution, staged fresh rallies on Sunday to maintain pressure on the new, interim government.

Setting a highly ambitious timeframe, the military wants new elections in around six months and has tasked a panel of 10 legal experts to present proposed changes to the constitution within 30 days for review before a broader-based body.

The original constitution was approved by a referendum last year, but critics said the text failed to protect human rights, minorities and social justice.

Ali Awad Saleh, a judge and the constitutional affairs adviser for the newly installed president, chaired Sunday's panel, saying it would spend the next week receiving ideas from "citizens, political parties, and all sides".

The Muslim Brotherhood has shown no sign it is ready to engage with the new administration or the army, sticking firmly to its demand for the full restoration of Morsi, who has been held in an undisclosed location since his downfall on July 3.

Army and judiciary sources denied a report in state-run Al-Ahram newspaper's early Monday edition that the public prosecutor had ordered the arrest of Morsi for 15 days pending an investigation into charges of spying and inciting violence.

The Egyptian military has said the new constitution should be put to a referendum before planned parliamentary elections.

However, some analysts have expressed doubts about rushing to revise the text given the lack of political consensus that has clouded Egypt's faltering transition to democracy in the wake of the 2011 removal of veteran autocrat Hosni Mubarak.